Using Notion as a Travel Planner: Itineraries,
- Bookings, and Checklists Planning a trip involves juggling flights, hotels, transportation, packing, and daily activities – it’s easy to feel disorganized.
- Notion can serve as an excellent Notion travel planner by keeping all your trip details in one place.
- You can build custom travel itinerary templates , packing checklists, and booking trackers right in Notion.
Bookings, and Checklists
Planning a trip involves juggling flights, hotels, transportation, packing, and daily activities – it’s easy to feel disorganized. Notion can serve as an excellent Notion travel planner by keeping all your trip details in one place. You can build custom travel itinerary templates , packing checklists, and booking trackers right in Notion. With one travel database or a series of linked pages, you can streamline vacation organization and actually enjoy the planning process . Notion even offers official travel templates; for instance, its Travel templates category says you can “organize itineraries, track reservations, and compile travel guides” to make trips memorable . Many travelers find Notion’s flexibility ideal: you can have one page per trip and break it into sections for an itinerary, packing list, budget, maps, and notes. Below, we’ll cover how to set this up.
Why Notion for Travel Planning
Before diving in, consider the benefits of using Notion as your trip planning checklist tool: - Centralized Info : All your trip info (dates, bookings, addresses, reservations) lives in one database or page. No need to hunt through emails or notebooks. - Custom Views : See your itinerary on a calendar , board, or list view. For example, you might want a calendar view to see activities per day, and a board view grouped by category (flights, activities, rest days). - Rich Media : Attach PDFs (boarding passes, hotel confirmations) or embed Google Maps into the page for quick reference. - Collaborate : If traveling with others, share the Notion page so everyone can add items or update details. - Visually Appealing : Use cover photos (Unsplash integration) and icons to make the trip pages inspiring, which makes planning more fun .
Setting Up a Trip Planner
Create a “Trips” Database . Start by making a main page or database called “Trips” or “Travel Plans.” Each entry in this database is a different trip (e.g., “Summer Europe 2024”). Add properties like Destination (text), Start Date, End Date, and Status. You might also include a Cover Image and icon to visually distinguish trips. Design a Trip Page . Click into a trip entry to edit it like a subpage. This is where you’ll gather all details for that specific trip. You can divide this page into sections (using headings) such as:23
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Itinerary : Your day-by-day schedule. Packing List : What to bring. Bookings & Reservations : Flight times, hotel names, confirmation numbers. Budget & Expenses : Trip budget and tracked spending. Travel Journal / Notes : Space to jot memories or tips. Build an Itinerary Database . Under the Itinerary section, insert a new sub-database (table or board). Add columns like Date , Day of Week (formula or text), Activity/Plan , Location , Details , Status .
You can also add a Files & Media column to attach tickets or tickets (e.g., PDF of flight, a link to a tour). Then switch to a Calendar view for this sub-database. This will place your activities on dates, giving a visual monthly or weekly calendar of your trip. You might also create a Board view categorized by type (Travel, Sightseeing, Meals, etc.) to see clusters of tasks. Screenshot: In a Notion travel planner , the itinerary can be displayed as a board with cover images for each destination or day.
Above is an example board view showing different cities (with image covers) as columns, and each day’s activity listed below (adapted from a Notion travel template). Utilize Multiple Views . Notion’s databases allow several views. For your itinerary database: Calendar View – shows a timeline of all activities. Board View – group entries by Status (Planned, Completed) or by Day/City. Table/List View – gives a spreadsheet-like list of activities to sort or filter .
For example, if you create a “Status” Select property (Planned vs. Done), you can quickly see which items you’ve checked off. PostcardsFromHawaii’s travel guide notes that you can click “New View” and choose calendar , board, or gallery to explore different layouts . Add Bookings and Confirmations . Under Bookings & Reservations , you can create another table or inline bullet list with details: Flight : Airline, time, confirmation (with attached PDF). Hotel : Name, check-in/out dates, reservation link or PDF.
Transport : Car rental info, train tickets, etc. Use the Files & Media block or columns to embed scans of tickets or reservation emails directly on the page. For example, one traveler notes: “Inside the itinerary page, I include any booking information like train tickets and hotel confirmations; the hotel booking PDF is shown here within the itinerary page” . Create Packing and Checklists . Use a Toggle List or Checklist for packing.
Under a “Packing List” heading, list items needed (Clothing, Electronics, Documents, etc.). You can create toggles for each category (e.g., “Clothing”, then indented bullet items like Shirts, Pants). Each traveler can check off items as they pack. For pre-trip tasks (like “Renew passport” or “Buy travel insurance”), use another checklist titled “Pre-Trip”. Budget & Expense Tracking . It can be handy to budget your trip.
Make a simple table with columns for Category (Lodging, Food, Transport, etc.) and Budgeted Amount . You could also add an Expense log table to track actual costs during the trip. Some templates include currency conversion if3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 1. 2. 3. 4.
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traveling internationally. For instance, one planner used Notion’s number property in their itinerary to handle currency conversion for budgeting . Personalize with Images and Covers . Notion allows adding cover photos and icons. For your trip page, choose an evocative cover image (Notion integrates Unsplash with over 900k hi-res photos ). Set an emoji or icon for the trip (like 🗺 or ✈). This makes the page visually appealing and easy to find in your sidebar . Invite Travel Buddies .
If you’re traveling with others, click Share and invite them (view or edit access). Everyone can then add items (e.g., “My Responsibility: rent car”) or upload documents to the shared Notion travel page. Visual Suggestions : Consider adding screenshots or visuals in your article. For example, show a screenshot of a Notion itinerary board or a sample packing checklist.
(You might place a screenshot of an itinerary calendar or Notion packing list here to illustrate the setup.) “Each trip page includes a pre-trip checklist, a packing list, a map, an itinerary, a budget, and space for notes” . By setting up your trip page with these sections, you ensure nothing is forgotten. Finally, double-check your page by walking through it as if you were leaving tomorrow: Are all bookings there? Is the hotel address noted? Are all checkboxes ticked?
Notion’s flexibility means you can refine the layout at any time – add a travel inspiration gallery, embed Google Maps for locations, or link sub- databases. The goal is a Vacation Organization system that suits your style, so personalize away. With everything in Notion, you’ll reduce pre-trip stress and focus on enjoying the adventure.
Next step
If you want to turn this into a reusable workspace, save your best blocks as a page template, name your properties consistently, and test your setup on mobile. Small tweaks like clearer statuses, fewer views, and better naming make a template feel instantly premium.
Try the free tools to estimate time saved and plan your next build, or head back to the Articles page to keep learning.